NEOMORPHUS. 533 
rare birds, though found over a large area, including the greater part of Tropical 
America. NV. geoffroyi, the oldest known, belongs to South-eastern Brazil; WV. ruji- 
pennis to Guiana; NV. pucherani to the Amazons Valley; N. radiolosus to Eastern 
Ecuador; whilst WV. salvini, the species which belongs to our country, occurs from 
Nicaragua to Ecuador. 
All the species of Neomorphus are of large size and of rich tints of bronze and purple 
on the upper surface; the head carries a long, full nuchal crest; the wings are very 
short, the sixth quill being the longest and hardly exceeding the secondaries in length ; 
the tail consists of long, wide, slightly curved feathers, the outermost pair are rather 
more than half the length of the middle pair; the legs are long, and the tarsi bare, the 
tibie covered with small closely set feathers, and not full like those of Coccyzus and 
Piaya; the bill is compressed, and the culmen drawn into a sharp curved edge; the 
nostrils are horizontal slits along the lower edge of the nasal fossa; the eyelashes are 
long bristles, with some long hair-like barbs from near the base. 
The only genus at all like Neomorphus is the Bornean and Sumatran Carpococcyz, 
to which it has a general resemblance; but the latter genus has a wider culmen at the 
base, the area over the nostrils less feathered, and the nostrils themselves more open. 
1. Neomorphus salvini. 
Neomorphus salvini, Scl. P. Z. S. 1866, p. 60, t. 5"; Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 1567; Ibis, 1872, 
p. 323°; Lawr. Ibis, 1873, p. 291*; Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xix. p. 417°. 
Supra seneo-viridis, lilacino-purpureo micans ; capite summo rufescente, fronte dilutiore, crista nuchali elongata 
violaceo-viridi: subtus griseo-fuscus, pectoris plumis pallide marginatis, torque pectorali nigra, ventre 
imo et tectricibus subcaudalibus rufo-brunneis, tibiis rufescentibus; alis et cauda eneo-virescentibus, hac 
supra rufa certa luce lavata; rostro corneo, culmine et tomiis pallidis; pedibus plumbeis. Long. tota 
circa 20-0, ale 6-6, caude rectr. med. 10-0, rectr. lat. 6-2, rostri a rictu 2°2, tarsi 2°8. (Descr. feminex, 
exempl. typ. ex Veraguas, Panama. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Nicaragua, Chontales (Belé?); Panama (Mus. Brit.), Santiago de Veraguas }, 
Cordillera de Tolé (Arcé ?)—CotomBia!; Ecuapor ®. 
Mr. Sclater’s description and figure of this distinct species were taken from a female 
specimen sent us in the second collection of birds made by Enrique Arcé after he left 
Panama and commenced his fruitful researches in the rich country lying to the west- 
ward of the interoceanic railway, and extending to Chiriqui and the frontier of Costa 
Rica. This collection was formed near Santiago de Veraguas, and reached us in 
January 1866. A second specimen, a male, was subsequently sent us from the 
Cordillera de Tolé, and reached us in September 1866; this passed into Mr. Sclater’s 
possession, and thence with the rest of his collection to the British Museum *. 
In 1872 Salvin found a specimen in Belt’s collection formed in Nicaragua, another 
* We give these particulars, as Capt. Shelley credits Mr. Sclater’s collection with the type of the species, 
which is an error. 
